Men's Basketball World Cup/Official Media Inventory Of The Chinese Team: The Worst Record, A Huge Gap

With the Philippines' forward Ramos' basket hit before the final whistle sounded, the Chinese men's basketball team finally lost to the Philippines, also an Asian team, by a huge gap of 21 points, and ended the 2023 Basketball World Cup trip with one win and four losses, ranking 29th.

The 29th place is the worst record of the Chinese men's Basketball team in the history of the Basketball World Cup (World Championship). Throughout the five games, the Chinese team lost by a large margin in the face of strong teams from Europe, America, and even Africa and Asia. Short boards such as not many strong offensive points, insufficient physical reserves, and insufficient backboard protection are amplified in front of stronger, faster, and more accurate opponents.

Another World Series, another disappointing loss. Chinese men's basketball team needs to effectively improve its own strength in order to occupy a place on the world basketball stage where the playing style is constantly iterated.

One win and four losses is a big difference
China will face Serbia, South Sudan and Puerto Rico in the group stage.

In the face of Serbia, the Chinese team fell into passivity from the beginning, and the end of the fourth quarter was played by the opponent with a wave of 18:0 offensive climax, and finally suffered a 42-point defeat.

Against the new World Cup team South Sudan, although the first half was only 4 points behind the other side, but the second half failed to withstand the opponent's storm of three-point shots, and finally lost by 20 points, and the other side threw 15 three-point shots.

Chinese player Li Kyle (center) conducts a shooting drill. (Xinhua News Agency)
Chinese player Li Kyle (center) conducts a shooting drill. (Xinhua News Agency)
In the face of the American strong Puerto Rico team, in the case of the other side did not send all the main lineup, the Chinese team was suppressed and lost by 18 points.

In the first game of the 17-32 qualifying round, in the face of the Angola team with insufficient outside projection ability, the Chinese team successfully limited its opponents at the defensive end and won by 7 points.

In the final game against the host Philippines, the Chinese team was attacked 14:0 in the third quarter by the opponent. Clarkson scored 24 points in the third quarter. China eventually lost by 21 points.

From the point of view of these five games, the Chinese team only in the first World War with Serbia and the opponent's rebound number is equal, the rest of the games are less than the opponent's rebound; In the final game against the Philippines, the Chinese team had 15 fewer rebounds than its opponent. Among all 32 teams, China's 31 rebounds per game ranked second to last, only slightly higher than Lebanon.

Offensively, China made 36 of 115 shots from beyond the three-point line, a 31.3 percent shooting rate, while group rivals Puerto Rico and South Sudan made 38.2 percent and 40.7 percent, respectively.

From the data point of view, the current Chinese team is not strong enough inside, the outside is not accurate enough, the Chinese men's basketball has been separated by the world basketball.

Lee Kyle into the core of the attack and defense is still short of power points
At the end of July this year, Li Kyle, who just obtained Chinese nationality, became the core of the attack and defense of the Chinese men's basketball team in the World Cup. Offensively, he averaged a team-high 13 points per game; Defensively, he averaged a team-high 5.6 rebounds per game; In tandem, he contributed the team's second highest 3.4 assists per game; At the same time, his 32.1 minutes were the highest on the team. On the whole, Li Kyle is the core player who is most relied on at both ends of the Chinese men's basketball team.

However, Li Kyle and the team still need time to run in, from the NBA arena to the FIBA arena, he on the rules of the game, game style, teammates, opponents are also need a cognitive process, just more than a month, to complete these difficulties is indeed quite large.

China coach Djordjevic after a training session. (Xinhua News Agency)
China coach Djordjevic after a training session. (Xinhua News Agency)
Only two players in the Chinese team scored double figures in this World Cup, in addition to Li Kyle, the other player is Zhao Rui. Zhao Rui has become the main point of the Chinese team on the outside in many games. In the first game against Serbia, in the case of Li Kyle's poor play, Zhao Rui carried the offensive flag and got the team's highest 17 points. In addition to the game against Angola, Zhao Rui scored in double figures in the remaining four games.

In addition, Hu Jinqiu and Hu Mingxuan are averaging 9.3 and 9 points per game respectively, while Zhou Qi is averaging 8.4 points per game.

On the whole, the Chinese men's basketball team does not have a strong scoring point at present. In the case of declining physical strength and increasing defensive intensity of the other side, the Chinese team has repeatedly fallen into the state of dumb attack. In the four games lost to the opponent, the Chinese team was played by the opponent has a fatal scoring surge. During the period when the opposing team was in full fire, the Chinese team failed to respond effectively in their offensive rounds in time.

If the Chinese team is to continue to make a difference on the world stage, it must develop more offensive points, so that it can compete.

Improve yourself and catch up
After the big loss to the Philippines, Zhao Rui said: "To be honest, the intensity of our league is really not comparable to this intensity. The feeling is definitely different against the strong teams on the field, against these strong opponents. Especially against their defensive pressure, how to choose, how to handle the ball, I think there are still gaps in these things, and we have to think about how to improve this area."

China coach Djordjevic also said that the World Cup tour has exposed the young players' immature and inexperience. "A lot of the players in the squad are playing at this level for the first time and I think they will realise how intense it can be and how much is demanded of the players." 'Learn to keep your head on your shoulders at any moment of the game,' Mr. Djordjevic said.

In this tournament, the Japanese team has defeated the European team of Finland, the American team of Venezuela and the African team of Cape Verde, with three wins and two losses to obtain the Asian Olympic qualification. For the Chinese team, if it wants to appear in the Olympic Games again, it must aim to beat the strong teams of Europe, America and Africa.

For the future, Zhao Rui admitted, "If you want to play the Olympic Games, you should usually practice more, practice harder"; For the Chinese men's basketball team, there is no shortcut except to improve themselves and strive to gain the ability to compete with the strong European and American teams.